what you must tend to today

Here is what you must tend to today:

You must peel back the bark that sheaths your becoming
And bring your most barren recesses
into the golden light of afternoon,
You must fling open the shades that have blocked
the imminent arrival of the brilliance
that bears your name,
Taste joy unadorned on the tip of your tongue
And inhale with anticipation your own decay
as it hastens the birth of a succulent spring

Today, here is what you must turn your attention to:

The insistent whimper of self-degradation
The waxing cacophony of your collective fears
The voice that says Nothing ever changes!
The sense that all is doom and foregone foreboding,
You must bundle this up in newsprint and set it by the curb
Bid Godspeed upon its journey
And vow never again to issue even one invitation
requesting its return

Today, you are well-served to linger,
To lap up the exquisite agony of life’s nectar
Seek out the Divine in everything you see
And recognize with fulsome rapture
that it is looking back searchingly for you

Today is the best of all possible days
to stop racing against time,
To caress one moment, then another
Feel the moon rise up the small of your back
Behold with fascination the tremors
of your own uncertain self-expression,
Then sink upon your pillow, exhausted, to rest

Today, before you do one more thing,
you must tend to your own garden:

Uncover the ferocious beauty
within every so-called weed!
Drown yourself within the breath of a lily,
In the comforting embrace of leaves and petals ~
You must loosen the locks on the sunshine,
call forth the rain
Burrow deep into the earth beneath you
and root yourself in fertile ground

Your presence is not required amid the clamor and chaos
You are not ordained to dance with the darkness
Nor engage in warfare of the soul

Answer the call that whispers to you gently
This is what you must tend to today,
And tomorrow
And tomorrow
And tomorrow again.